hielo patagonia sounds

This question stared after having recorded 4 audio clips from my modular synth in 4 separate audio tracks. I’m wondering how to crossfade between 4 tracks in realtime using the joystick of my FaderFox micromodul LV2 ? A kind of vector mixing between these 4 tracks ?

What I’ve tried first was to make some group tracks:
- Group Track 1 = Track A + Track C
- Group Track 2 = Track B + Track D.

Then I assigned the X MIDI controller of the FaderFox’s joystick to control the level of track A and in opposite the level of track C. I did the same for Track B and D with the Y MIDI controller of the FaderFox’s joystick. But that’s not a true vector crossfader.

I think that the X MIDI controller of the FaderFox’s joystick should also control the level of the Group Track 2 and the same with the Y MIDI controller of the FaderFox’s joystick for the level of the Group Track 1. But then the MIDI controllers values must be mapped to have a special curve …

Instead of thinking about axis (X and Y) where each of the four audio sources is along these axis (axis X : source A & source C – axis Y : source B & source D), the idea was to think about a square where each corner is an audio source. Here is what I’ve done …

1 – I cut my 4 loops to the same length (16 bars in this case) and put each on its own track.

2 – Right-click on each audio clip and convert them with “Slice in a new MIDI track”.

3 – Select the smaller resolution you can have (here 1/8 bar give 128 slices) and for Slice Preset select “Slice to single Sampler”.

4 – Now you should have 4 new MIDI tracks in which you have a single Sampler instrument playing a 16 bar MIDI loop triggering 128 sample slices of the former audio loops => Loop 1, Loop 2, Loop 3, Loop 4.

5 – Create a new MIDI track, copy the first Sampler instrument in it (Loop 1), and copy the MIDI clip too.

6 – Create a rack with this Sampler instrument and copy in it the second Sampler instrument (from the 2d audio loop : Loop 1) => Rack 1-2 with MIDI triggered loops 1 & 2.

7 – Embedded Rack 1-2 into an new rack => Main Rack.

8 – Duplicate Rack 1-2 and rename the copy Rack 3-4.

9 – Copy into Rack 3-4 Sampler instruments Loop 3 and Loop 4, and delete Sampler instruments Loop 1 and Loop 2 which were copied when we have duplicated Rack 1-2 (see previous step 8).

10 – Now in each sub-racks (Rack 1-2 and Rack 3-4), click on the CHAIN button and draw a crossfade with respectively Loop 1 and Loop 2, and Loop 3 and Loop 4.

11 – For each sub-racks (Rack 1-2 and Rack 3-4), assign a circular knob to control the crossfade between respectively Loop 1 and Loop 2, and Loop 3 and Loop 4.

12 – On the Main Rack assign a circular knob to control both knob from Rack 1-2 and Rack 3-4, and label it Fade X.

13 – On the Main Rack, click on the CHAIN button and draw a crossfade between Rack 1-2 and Rack 3-4 and assign a second circular knob to control the main crossfade. Label it Fade Y.

14 – Assign MIDI controller to knobs b>Fade X and b>Fade Y and have fun !!!

NOTES
- You should make some minors level adjustments in each of the 4 Sampler instruments to get a good audio balance.
- If you are using a MIDI joystick (I’m using the one in my Faderfox micromodul LV2), each corner is an audio source. Making circles with the joystick crossfade between the 4 audio sources.
- If you put the joystick in the central position, you may get a kind of “bad spot” audio level, but it depends on your audio materials too.

ableton Live – How to crossfade between 4 loops in realtime ? by hpsounds

More informations about vector synthesis here : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vector_synthesis

Tags: ableton live, audio damage, faderfox, modular synth, Tattoo, vector synthesis
Categories: music, podcast, sampling, tutorial

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